Ski boot binding plate protector and walking aid

ABSTRACT

A ski boot binding plate protector and walking aid especially designed for use with Spademan type boot plates. The protector takes the form of a one piece body of a molded flexible material, such as Neolite (trademark) having a boot plate receiving recess formed in the upper surface. Retaining shoulders project upwardly above the upper surface of the body along opposite sides and project inwardly to overlie the boot plate receiving recess along the opposed sides. The plate receiving recess is formed with side walls conformed in shape to the side edges of the boot plate, and when mounted on the boot plate, the retaining shoulders overlie and grip those portions of the plate which project beyond the side of the boot to retain the protector in position upon the boot plate. The upper edges of the shoulders are complementary in shape to the corresponding side edges of the boot plate and are beveled downwardly and inwardly to assist in mounting the protector on the plate.

United States Patent 1 Dvorsky SKI BOOT BINDING PLATE PROTECTOR ANDWALKING AID [76] Inventor: Daniel A. Dvorsky, R. R. No. 3,

Indian Lookout 77, Iowa City, Iowa 52240 22 Filed: Feb. 8, 1973 21 Appl.No.: 330,699

Primary ExaminerPatrick D. Lawson AttorneyDuane Burton 51 Dec. 4, 197357 ABSTRACT A ski boot binding plate protector and walking aidespecially designed for use with Spademan type boot plates. Theprotector takes the form of a one piece body of a molded flexiblematerial, such as Neolite (trademark) having a boot plate receivingrecess formed in the upper surface. Retaining shoulders project upwardlyabove the upper surface of the body along oppositesides and projectinwardly to overlie the boot plate receiving recess along the opposedsides. The plate receiving recess is formed with side walls conformed inshape to the side edges of the boot plate, and when mounted on the bootplate, the retaining shoulders overlie and grip those portions of theplate which project beyond the side of the boot to retain the protectorin position upon the boot plate. The upper edges of the shoulders arecomplementary in shape to the corresponding side edges of the boot plateand are beveled downwardly and inwardly to as si'st in mounting theprotector'on the plate.

2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures SKI BOOT BINDING PLATE PROTECTOR AND WALKINGAID BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION One of the most revolutionary conceptsto appear in the ski binding field in recent years is the Spademanbinding which eliminates the conventional toe and heel engaging devicesand instead employs a single plate fixedly secured to the sole of theski boot which is en- 1 gaged by a release mechanism permenently mountedon the ski. Although revolutionary in concept, the Spademan binding hasin a short time achieved a substantial degree of commercial success,both for its safety features and because of the fact that it uses thesame plate, regardless of boot size, this latter feature being ofparticular interest to ski equipment rental establishments.

The boot plate of the Spademan binding takes the form of a flat metalplate which is fixedly secured to the boot at a location slightlyforward from the heel so that, when viewed from the side, a lineextending from the skiers shinbone would pass centrally through theplate.

' The plate projects outwardly beyond the sides of the boot sole andsinuous side edges on the plate cooperate with the release mechanismmounted on the ski to retain the boot in substantially fixedrelationship to the ski during normal skiing activity and to provide forprompt release of the boot from the ski in the case of a fall or otherabnormal application of force to the ski.

While the Spademan binding is generally conceded to be well designed forits purpose, some problems have been presented by the metal boot platewhen the skier is not skiing. The plate itself is a metal plateapproximately 'V; inch in thickness and having overall outside q siqas9f..alzizr ri yatelylfl fzsifth aq lntq on the bottom of the sole of theski boot by screws and thus presents a flat metal surface which isoffset slightly downwardly from the flat rigid boot sole and projectsoutwardly beyond the opposite side edges of the boot sole. The platethus presents'a distinct possibility of slipping on ice or smooth floorsurfaces, can gouge or mar floors or furniture legs and will tend tocatch in uneven floor surfaces. Further, the projecting side edges ofthe plate are smoothly curved and conformed to elements in the releasemechanism, and these projecting side edges can be abradedor deformed ifcare is not taken when walking on stone or concrete surfaces.

The present invention is especially directed to overcoming the problemsreferred to above and at the same time providing a device which makeswalking in rigid soled ski boots easier. 1

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention takes the form of a onepiece protector element constructed of a molded flexible material whichcan be readily clipped onto the boot plate when separated from thebinding to substantially enclose all exposed surfaces of the plate toguard against damage by or to the plate, to provide a slip resistantwalking surface and to further provide a more convenient walking actionwhen installed on the boot.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent byreference to the following specification and to the drawings.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a ski boot having a Spademanboot plate mounted on the boot;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the bottom portion of a boot having a Spademanplate mounted thereon and showing, in broken line, a boot protector ofthe present invention in its mounted position;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a boot protector embody- 0 ing the presentinvention, with a portion of the protector broken away;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the boot protector of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a detailed cross sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 3;and

FIG. 6 is a transverse cross sectional view showing the manner in whichthe protector is mounted upon the plate.

Plate 10 is fixedly and permanently secured to the bottom of boot sole Sas by screws 14 and is mounted upon the boot sole at a fore and aftlocation such that the plate is centered in vertical alignment with theshinbone of the wearer of the boot; As best seen in FIG. 2, the flatplate 10 is mounted upon and thus projects slightly below the bottom ofthe boot sole. Because of the rigid nature of ski boot soles, it isbelieved apparent that the rigid metal plate 10 can present problems ofslippage on smooth surfaces, can damage floors or other objects, and isitself susceptible to damage or abrasion from stone, concrete or similarsurfaces.

The boot plate protector of the present invention is designatedgenerally 16 and is-formed from a flexible material having some degreeof resilience, such as the material sold under'the trademark Neolite.The protector can be readily formed by. conventional molding techniquesand is formed with a generally flat body 18 whose overall shape in planas shown in FIG. 3 is generally similar to, but of larger dimensionsthan the corresponding overall dimensions of the plate 10.

A boot plate receiving recess 20 is formed in the upper surface of body18, the recess being bounded by vertical front, side and rear walls 22,24 and 26 respectively whose dimensions and configurations match thoseof the corresponding edges of boot plate 10.

Integral retaining shoulders 28 project outwardly from body 18 along theopposite sideedges of the pro- Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, thesefigures disclose less than the corresponding distance between side edges12. A downwardly and inwardly inclined bevel 34 is formed on edges 32 ofthe protector to assist in mounting the protector upon the plate. Tofurther assist in mounting the protector on the plate, outer depressedsections 36 are formed in recess 20 outwardly of walls 38.

The protector is mounted upon boot plate in the manner illustrated inFIG. 6. The protector is placed on the ground or hard surface and oneside edge 12 of boot plate 10 is seated in engagement with thecorresponding side wall 24 of the recess as shown in FIG. 6. By steppingdown firmly, the engagement between the right-hand side edge of bootplate 10 as viewed in FIG. 6 with the beveled surface 34 on theright-hand shoulder 28 forces shoulder 28 to flex outwardly to the rightas viewed in FIG. 6 until the right-hand edge of the boot plate snapsdownwardly underneath the overhanging portion of shoulder 28. From FIG.6, it will be seen that the outer depressed portions 36 of recessprovide additional clearance for the first inserted edge of the bootplate, while when the boot plate is finally in its seated position, thebottom of the plate will rest upon the elevated central portion ofrecess 20 while the top edges of the boot plate will be in firmengagement with the overhanging surfaces 30 of shoulder 28 to preventany vertical play of the protector on the plate. Side walls 22, 24 and26 engage the corresponding side edges of the boot plate to hold theprotector in fixed relationship to the plate. The bottom surface of theprotector is preferably formed with ribs or lugs 40 to provide traction.

From FIG. 2, it is seen thatwhen mounted the protector presents, ineffect, a block or pad projecting from the bottom of the boot sole andenclosing the exposed surfaces of the boot plate. This arrangementprovides some convenience in walking with the rigid boot sole S, becausethe protector provides a ground engaging surface about which the bootmay be rocked, thus enabling a walking action more comparablevto anormal walking action than the usual flat footed stepping required bythe inflexible boots.

While one embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosedembodiment may be modi fied. Therefore, the foregoing description is tobe considered exemplary rather than limiting, and the true scope of theinvention is that defined in the following claims.

I claimi l. A ski boot plate protector and walking aid comprising a onepiece body of flexible resilient material, said body having a boot platereceiving recess in the upper surface thereof conformed in shape to theshape of the boot plate, integral retaining shoulders on said bodyprojecting upwardly from said upper surface along opposed sides of saidrecesses and projecting inwardly into spaced overlying relationship withsaid recess along said opposed sides, the inner side edges of saidshoulders being complementary in shape to the corresponding side edgesof said plate and being spaced from each other by a distance less thanthe corresponding spacing between the side edges of said plate, and adownwardly and inwardly inclined beveled surface extending along theinner side edges of said shoulders.

2. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein the central portion of thebottom of said recess is a flat surface upwardly projecting side wallsbounding said recess and adapted to simultaneously engage thecorresponding side edges of the boot plate, and depressed outer portionson the bottom of said recess offset downwardly from the central portionof said recess and extending inwardly from the opposed side walls ofsaid recess to locations spaced inwardly of said body from said innerside edges of said shoulders.

1. A ski boot plate protector and walking aid comprising a one piecebody of flexible resilient material, said body having a boot platereceiving recess in the upper surface thereof conformed in shape to theshape of the boot plate, integral retaining shoulders on said bodyprojecting upwardly from said upper surface along opposed sides of saidrecesses and projecting inwardly into spaced overlying relationship withsaid recess along said opposed sides, the inner side edges of saidshoulders being complementary in shape to the corresponding side edgesof said plate and being spaced from each other by a distance less thanthe corresponding spacing between the side edges of said plate, and adownwardly and inwardly inclined beveled surface extending along theinner side edges of said shoulders.
 2. The invention defined in claim 1wherein the central portion of the bottom of said recess is a flatsurface upwardly projecting side walls bounding said recess and adaptedto simultaneously engage the corresponding side edges of the boot plate,and depressed outer portions on the bottom of said recess offsetdownwardly from the central portion of said recess and extendinginwardly from the opposed side walls of said recess to locations spacedinwardly of said body from said inner side edges of said shoulders.